The Neighbors
by Vault Avatar
Summary: Set in the movie world. Coraline struggles to rid her mind of memories from the Other World, but when she meets some neighbors down the street who have more experience with the Beldam than they let on, she finds it even harder to escape her nightmares.
1. After the Party

**Late at night, after the garden party…**

_Makin' up a song about Coraline!_

_She's a doll, she's a peach, she's a pal of mine!_

_She's cute as a button in the eyes of everyone who ever laid their eyes…_

Coraline woke and screamed that silent scream, where the voice inside of you is just too scared to come out. _Eyes, eyes, eyes._ She was frantic, her sheets all askew, and in her blind tantrum she knocked the black cat to the floor. _Buttons, eyes, don't sew them!_

But she soon realized that she was in her own room, her own house, in her own **real** Ashland, Oregon. Of course, you had to be careful. There were other places that looked just like this.

The black cat meowed loudly and tried to jump back onto the bed, but only clawed at the blanket and slipped off once more.

"Sorry, Cheshire," Coraline apologized. Cheshire was what she had named him. It only seemed proper, but the black cat didn't take well to the title. So, he put his ears back in detest before hopping onto the mattress, successfully this time. Nuzzling Coraline's face, he stared into her eyes knowingly.

"Yeah," she told her pet. "It's gonna be hard to get rid of all that." Cheshire nodded ever so slightly and curled back on the girl's lap. In no time, after a few minutes of running her hands through the cat's fur, both were fast asleep.

**The next morning…**

"Coraline! It's late! Get out of bed, already!"

The girl grumbled and reached for her nightstand to steady herself as she rose from her bed. Looking around, she realized that it _was_ late in the day. The sun was shining very brightly through her windows, the black cat was already clawing at the door, and when she looked at her clock, it read 11:23 AM.

For a twelve year-old, it was the latest she'd ever slept.

"Cheshire, please don't ruin the floor…"

The mangy cat looked back at her, cocked his head, and resumed scratching. Too tired to do much else, Coraline threw a small pillow at him.

"Cheshire, I know you can understand me! Stop scratching!"

In response, he gave her a bored look and stepped aside, allowing her to open the door once she'd put on slippers and her shawl. Together, they sluggishly trundled down the stairs and into the kitchen, where Mrs. Mel Jones sat reading a magazine with a cup of coffee in hand. While taking a sip, she looked up to examine her groggy daughter.

"It's about time," she joked. "I was afraid I would have to come and get you."

Through half-closed eyes, the disheveled girl moved silently to the kitchen table and sat down, laying her head in her arms. Cautiously, her mother poked her with a pencil.

"Hiiisssssssssssss." That was all Coraline got out, and it was all that was needed to revert Mel back to her editorials. When her daughter was satisfied by the silence, she was about to get up when…

"Hi ho, Jones family!" Coraline put her head back down again – Dad just entered the room.

"How you doin' sweetie?" he asked her, kissing her head. She stayed silent, still too sleepy to really move. Her mother replied for her instead.

"She woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

"Ah, I know that feeling," Charlie nodded. "And I also know how to cure it! Lemme just and go and get something first."

He ran off into the dining room, and Coraline raised her eyes to watch him go. She expected him back within a minute, but what she failed at that morning was expecting him to come back the same way.

Soon, father and daughter were on the floor, laughing uncontrollably and writhing to get away from the tickle monster, as Dad called it. _Uncle, uncle…_

"Uncle, uncle, uncle!!" Coraline shouted, and only then did her father stop the torture. Both sat up laughing, and then stood up. Mr. Jones fixed a crick in his back while the twelve year-old kept stumbling from dizziness. Then, they both sat down.

Coraline noticed something wrong, and she asked "Mom, what are you doing with your face?"

Mel was trying to hide it. She didn't do it too much. But the laughter wouldn't stop until it was released, and when she let go, the whole family broke out giggling.

"Now," mom tried between laughs. "Who wants some breakfast?"

**About midday the same day…**

"So, whaddya wanna do today?"

"I dunno, whadda _you _wanna do today?"

"I dunno, whadda _you _wannado today?"

"Shut up."

The two small figures hiked up the hill, one with some mechanism trailing after him, the other in a bright yellow jacket and Wellington boots. Wybie had nothing better to do, and Coraline was bored.

"So, when do you go back to school?" the boy asked. Coraline groaned and replied in a distasteful way.

"September 6th. And I get to go to good 'ole John Muir Junior High!" She spat in front of her to emphasize the enmity.

"Aw man!" Wybie countered. "I go back August 25th, 'cause my school didn't make up a few snow days last year! You private school kids are so lucky."

Coraline nodded, then looked at him confused. "Wait. Tomorrow's the 25th!"

"Tell me about it."

She couldn't believe him. Wybie - the weirdest, laziest, most forgetful kid in Ashland. Strange that both schools were across the street from each other and one started before the other. She collected herself from her puzzlement.

"So, who'll I beat on for a week if the punching bag's not here?"

Wybie stopped and gave her look that said 'really?' Then he sat on his bike and looked down the hill, where the driveway led into a crop of forest.

"You haven't explored everywhere, ya know," he told her.

"Oh, really?" Coraline knew that there wasn't much around the Pink Palace she didn't know about. She'd gone from the edge of the apple orchard all the way to the Lovat's house, and even discovered an old tennis court in the woods. But she was curious, and listened to Wybie's response.

He pointed down the road. "Down that way is a pond, with a few houses around it. It's not far."

Coraline strained to see, but the sight of any shiny water eluded her. Little Wybourn continued.

"The Gaimans and the Lenards are nice, and they both have kids. Then there are a couple of other houses I don't know much about."

Coraline was still focused on looking for the water. She turned her head right, left, up, down, and even twisted it to see through the trees. Wybie shook his head and pushed her away from him.

"You can't see it from here!" he revealed. "You have to go down the river a little bit 'til you reach the pond."

"But I thought the river led down to that lake?"

"It does… eventually. But first, it hits the pond."

"I don't remember seeing a pond on the way up here. Never."

"That's because you weren't looking for it."

Coraline gave her "friend" (emphasis on the quotation marks) a sour look. Wybie had been getting a lot of those lately… from everyone. He took out his turret helmet and hopped on his bike.

"I'll show you, if you want."

The girl glowered even more. "You want me to _ride_ with you?"

"No," he replied plainly. "Just run behind."

And with that he zoomed off down the hill, almost crashed twice, and disappeared into the woods. Without a second thought, Coraline followed.

**A few moments later…**

Huffing and puffing, trying to keep up with Wybie without exploding, Coraline slowed to a stop at the bottom of the hill. The ground evened out nicely, and the area was surrounded by the familiar trees with the little river babbling between them all. Wybie stood near the dirt road, covered in mud and still sporting his turret helmet. As Coraline approached him, he flipped it up, and pointed in a general direction.

"Those houses over there," he announced, "belong to the Gaimans and the Lenards. You can see the pond in the back."

He pointed farther down the road.

"_That _one is the Fords." Then he grinned mischieviously at the out-of-breath girl in front of him.

"And now, you have to run back up."

"What?!" Coraline yelled, but Wybie had already pedaled a couple hundred yards away. Cursing to herself, Miss Jones stumbled after him, up the driveway. As she exhausted herself further, a warm summer rain began to fall.

**About the time that some people have tea…**

Slamming the door open and scowling at no one in particular, Coraline stamped into the house, completely drenched. Her father was in the living room at the time, and looked over to see what the commotion was.

"Good gosh, Coraline!" he exclaimed. "You're soaked to the bone!"

Without a word, his daughter tore off her coat, removed her boots, and carefully placed her hat and gloves on the noisy old radiator to dry. Then she ran up the stairs to her room so she could find some new clothes.

Once she'd put on a mismatched outfit of sweatpants and a zebra sweater, she trundled downstairs and sat with her dad on the sofa. In an instant, he procured a mug of hot chocolate from the table next to him.

"I know it's really not the season, but you looked like you needed it." He smiled at the shivering girl, who gratefully accepted it and took a long gulp to warm herself up. Once she'd gotten comfortable, she thanked him and asked about the other houses.

"Did you ever go to meet the families down the street?" Her father pondered this for a second.

"Ya know, I don't believe we ever said hello." He wasn't really interested, so he kept watching CNN while Coraline stared off into space. Then, out of the blue:

"Could I go meet them tomorrow?"

"_You_ could. Tomorrow's Monday, though, and both your mother and I have to work."

"I just wanna introduce myself."

"I'm all for it."

**The next morning…**

"_You're listening to Kiss 107 FM… wake up Oregon! It's seven o'clock! Time to go to work, school, or back to bed – I don't judge. Here's a little something to get you out from that slumber…"_

Just as The Plain White T's started to play, a hand burst from beneath the blankets and slammed the radio off. Already awake, Coraline Jones lifted the covers, sat up, and immediately went to the bathroom.

Once she was actually awake, she listened for signs of life around the house – the tap tap tap of Dad's computer, or the usual discontented sigh of her mother. When she heard nothing, she snuck to their bedroom door and peered in, only to find them both still asleep.

Satisfied that she was all to herself, Coraline bounded down the stairs, dropped a pastry into the toaster, and switched on the TV. Happily munching on a Pop Tart and watching Spongebob, she pulled out yesterday's crossword puzzle, which her dad had failed to finish.

_12-letter word for an element of danger._

"Perilousness."

_7-letter word for a comfortable feeling._

"Leisure."

_16-letter world for not being understood._

"Incomprehensible"

Coraline giggled at the thought of her dad managing this stuff. She got it from mom, instead.

The twelve year-old spent about a half an hour doing this. When she couldn't figure any more crosswords out, she dropped the paper on the sofa, cleaned up her breakfast, and switched off the tube. About ten minutes from then, her mother would come down, make a cup of coffee, and turn it right back on again.

Looking out the window, Coraline saw that yesterday's rain had brought on a following of sunshine. The water clung onto the flowers and trees outside, and a wet spider web made a lovely sculpture in the morning light. Rushing back upstairs to put clothes on, the black cat entered the room through the slightly opened window. Coraline had opened it because the sound of rain actually helped her to fall asleep.

"Meow," Cheshire greeted. Coraline rubbed his back as she passed him and he immediately started to purr loudly. She grabbed from her dresser a pair of jeans and a green T-shirt, then put her denim jacket over it. Back in the kitchen, her Wellingtons were soon on her feet, the gloves hat off of the radiator, and she was ready to go. Quietly opening the utility drawer, she pulled out a notepad and a pen to scribble a message.

_GONE EXPLORING_

_Back for breakfast_

She left it next to the coffee machine, where one of her parents would surely find it, and skipped out the door with the black cat trailing behind.


	2. Lucas

Hello! I hope everyone who read the first chapter enjoyed it! Here's the second. She meets her first Neighbor. To see his picture sketch, go to deviant art and search "Lucas The Camper."

(I am apparently unable to post links to websites on here).

By the way, I dunno how old Coraline is, but I pinned her at about 12 based on her behavior and knowledge. I also made her birthday in January, because, I dunno, her hair is wintery. *_*

* * *

**Somewhere near breakfast time…**

She'd gone exploring, just as she'd written in the note. For a short hour, she climbed rocks, explored the woods, and played around the tennis courts. It was weird not hearing Wybie's bike patrolling the woods, or Wybie himself annoying her. Even the black cat got bored and ran off to the Lovat's house.

Coraline continued through the forest, past the courts this time, to the river. It was a pitiful thing, more like a trickle, if not a stream. She discovered the reason why maybe a week ago: a huge beaver dam at the top of the hill blocked most of the water from flowing. She imagined that at one time, the water must've cascaded down, just passing the tennis courts, and poured freely into the lake.

_Pond_, Coraline reminded herself. With that in mind, she followed the river down, around, over, under, and through several obstacles that blocked her path. When the ground evened out, as it had before, she wasn't in the same place as yesterday. There was no road in sight. Instead, a relatively large body of water lay before her - the unnamed pond.

"So," she said to herself aloud. "This is it."

A small sailboat zoomed across the water off in the distance, its canvas sporting a big black fish eating a smaller fish. A figure was hunched over inside, tending to the lines. Coraline was about to shout out a hello, but thought better of it. They wouldn't hear her anyways.

She stepped forward to reach the water's edge, and immediately pulled her foot up, gasping as if she had stepped on something slimy with bare feet. She had trod on an old campfire, wet from the rain, but recently burnt. Kicking one of the logs irritably, she then proceeded to the pond.

The sailboat still drove on, and as Coraline looked around, she saw a part of town she knew nothing of, and it was only a few hundred yards from her house. Log homes sat on the western side of the pond, absorbing the sunshine, while a lone weather-beaten Victorian sat amidst a few dead pine trees on the eastern side. Close to one of the log homes, someone sat at the edge of a dock, patiently casting a line in the water, while a black-and-white dog played in the yard behind him.

Since Coraline didn't quite feel like visiting the Victorian, and the sailor was too far out, she plodded along the dirt beach, towards the fisherman. As she approached, the dog took notice, and started to stare at her. Coraline began to have second thoughts. _Would the dog start growling, barking? Would it attack me?_

Much to her pleasant surprise, it simply trotted over to her, sniffed at her legs, and licked her hand when she bent down to pet it. It had soft spotted fur, and when the dog looked up at her, the eyes seemed playful. When the spaniel had its fill of praise from the stranger, it ran off back to its master, who patted its head before focusing back on fishing.

Coraline approached the dock cautiously, not knowing how the fisherman would react. She still didn't know who he was. He could be some sour old man that would sue her for trespassing, or a crazed lunatic, for all she knew. But, although wary, she still walked up the dock to the man.

"Hello?" she tried. The stranger's head turned and spotted her out of the corner of the eye. Then he lifted his legs up and onto the wood, facing her completely.

"Oh, hello!" he exclaimed, and set his pole down. Coraline was surprised to see that the fisherman was actually a boy, not a couple years older than her. He got to his feet and held out a fingerless-gloved hand.

"You must be the new girl up the street! I'm Lucas."

Shaking his hand slowly, she tried a friendly smile.

"Coraline," she told him.

"Caroline, huh? That's a cool name."

The girl with the cool name looked at Lucas from head to toe. He was dressed quite strangely, as if he was on some sort of extended camping trip. A red baseball cap sat atop his head, with clip-on headlights attached to the rim. He had a green military-style coat over a plaid collared shirt over a grey T-shirt, with a Smith & Wesson patch over one of his breast pockets. Hanging from various spots all over were pocketknives, whistles, fire starters, and a mini-flashlight. He even had rope tied around his belt. Possibly the oddest thing about his outfit were the football kneepads over his jeans, lifting his pants far above his shoes so you could see his socks if you leaned down.

Once they stopped shaking hands, Lucas gave her a nod, and sat back down to keep up with his hobby. For lack of a better thing to do, Coraline tried to keep up with the conversation.

"So…" she began. "What'cha doin'?" Lucas grunted and responded with a hint of unsatisfaction.

"The single most boring activity on the face of the earth."

"Then why are you doing it?" It seemed obvious to Coraline that if you hated something, you usually wouldn't do it. But then again, she hated chores and homework.

"My house lost power last night," the boy told her. "No lights, no television, no plugs to test my computer with. I even had to take all the food out of the refrigerator and put them in a big picnic cooler."

That wasn't good. Lucas continued.

"Usually, I have something good to do. But the ground has been so soggy, I can't start a fire or even whittle wood correctly. It needs to be dry. Now, I'm stuck fishing."

Coraline looked at her new aquaintance curiously. There was something wrong with the way this boy was acting. Something about the environment told her a piece of the puzzle was missing. Then, as soon as it came, she figured it out.

"Where are your parents?"

Lucas looked at her, grinned, and stared back at his line.

"My mom and dad are out on a business trip in Portland. They're both home decorators."

Something told Coraline that their son didn't mix in with how his house looked. Sighing, the fisherboy reeled his line in, picked up his pole, and got to his feet.

"I'm having no luck," he announced sadly. "The only thing I've gotten since daybreak is this little dude."

He reached into the bucket at his feet and expertly plucked out a little grey fish no bigger than a guppy, waving it in front of Coraline's face for emphasis of his failure. Before she could push his hand away, he held it above his head, opened his mouth, and dropped the tiny thing in, swallowing it whole. Looking back at a squeamish Coraline, he shrugged and held out his hand.

"One dollar." Coraline looked at his hand and back at him.

"What?"

"I just ate a fish live… one dollar." Eventually, the disgusted look on his guest's face made him laugh and put his hand down.

"I'm just kidding, you know." Coraline was still disturbed by the boy's makeshift breakfast, but she nodded in understanding. Lucas just stood there awkwardly for a bit before stepping off the dock and towards his house. Not wanting to be a bad host, he called back to his guest.

"Hey Caroline, follow me for a sec." She was wary of this weird guy she just met, but trotted after him, the dog rubbing against her legs.

**Around the time most people wake up on a weekend…**

"It's Cor-aline, ya know."

"Okay, okay. Coraline. Sheesh."

The two walked across the yard towards the Gaiman's log home. As they got closer, Coraline noticed that the ground was littered with carved sticks, lawn equipment, and dog toys. Someone was busy, and didn't think of cleaning up.

Lucas brought the girl to his back porch and opened the glass door. He stepped in, wiped his feet, and proceeded to the kitchen. When Coraline set foot in the house, she realized that the Gaiman's home decorating skill was displayed everywhere. A chandelier of false deer antlers hung from the ceiling, just underneath a humongous skylight. The living room was decked out in natural furniture, so that only the television was made of metal, and the couch out of leather. An open window connected the room to the kitchen, so Coraline could walk up to it and peer in to see Lucas grabbing a soda from the cooler.

"Nice house," she remarked. She meant it too.

"Thanks. It's not really my style, but it's better than the apartment we had in Buffalo." He walked back into the room with Coraline and gave her a short tour.

"So, yeah. This is the family room. TV's not working, radio's not working, and the lights aren't working," he said, directing his guest's attention to each fizzled out electronic. Then he pointed to the kitchen.

"Not much in there that isn't practical. My mom decorated it okay, but I never really understood why kitchens and bathrooms had to look so nice."

Coraline smiled at his joke and twisted to a second-floor balcony above. Lucas caught sight of this, and led her to the stairs.

"Up here are the bedrooms and study. The only room I use up here, though, is mine." At the top of the staircase, he walked through a little door with a '**No Trespassing, violators will be shot**' sign. When Coraline entered, it was like an immediate culture change. It was so different, in fact, she had to stop to adjust her mind to the environment.

A twin-sized bed sat in the corner, it's sheets messy from Lucas getting up this morning (and plenty of mornings before), and opposite it was a desk covered in computer parts and tools, with an intact laptop open on the side. The walls weren't wooden, but plastered, and painted to look like the grey walls you'd find in dungeons. The only relief from this depressing sight was the entire far wall, painted bright orange. Any space that didn't have a shelf or piece of furniture in front of it was home to a variety of signs and posters, while an old bookcase stood precariously between two windows, stuffed with innumerable books and mementos.

"This," Lucas announced proudly, "is my room."

Coraline stepped in, looking around at everything, while her new friend just plopped himself on his bed.

"It's… different."

"Thank you," Lucas smiled. Coraline turned to the dissected computer and picked up a small digital card.

"What're you doing over here?" she asked.

"Oh, that's my dad's old laptop. I… borrowed it to see the inner workings and put it back together again."

"That's cool." Turning around back towards the door, she saw something on the wall that made her cringe.

"What is _that_?"

Lucas looked where she was pointing.

"Oh, that's the dead rabbit I found on the road a few weeks ago."

Technically it wasn't the whole rabbit, just its hide spread out on the wall. The additional parts – bones, guts, and other such things – were missing. This made Coraline question.

"Where's the rest of it?"

Lucas responded unfazed by her reaction to it. "I gave the meat to Lulu… oh, that's my dog, by the way." The spaniel sat on his bed next to him. "The, um, organs were used for this morning's fishing, and the bones are in the shed. I've yet to figure out what to do with them."

Coraline was just a_ little_ disturbed. "Why would you do this? You could've buried it or something."

"I did it like the Indians. Didn't waste a single bit of it. It was already dead, anyways, and I highly doubt that rabbits conduct burial ceremonies."

He chuckled and Coraline couldn't help but chuckle with him. _Bunny burials. Ha._ Lucas got up, took off his kneepads, and sat at the computer desk. Sighing, he picked up a piece and a screwdriver, contemplating what he should do with the stuff in his hand.

"I have no idea where I'm supposed to put the heat sink, especially in a laptop."

Coraline hadn't the foggiest of what he was talking about. After a few seconds, he gave up thinking anyways, and turned to her.

"So, how do you like your new accommodations up the hill?" he asked.

Coraline wasn't sure how to answer the question. "It's a nice house," she told him reluctantly. "A little creepy at night, but it's my home now."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Pretty alien surroundings for the first few weeks, eh?"

_You have no idea._

"Yeah, it took a while to get used to it."

Lucas nodded in agreement, and started to play with Lulu. Suddenly, Coraline had an idea.

"Did you know the last people who lived in there?"

"Your apartment?"

"Yeah."

"Well, they left a few weeks after my family moved here," he started. "Some old couple. Just wanted to go someplace that wasn't rainy 24/7, I guess."

"No one else?"

Lucas paused and stared off into space, then stared into Coraline's eyes.

"There _was_ the Fords. They live in that eyesore across the pond." He stopped talking again as if he were deep in thought.

"About a year ago, they decided to, I dunno, upgrade from their leaky rotten home to the Pink Palace. They were gonna buy both ground floor apartments. So, Mrs. Lovat's realtor showed them around."

He took off his shoes quickly and spread out over his bed so he could be more comfortable telling the story.

"They were there only one day. Still hadn't sold their old house, still hadn't combined the two sections of the building. They have two kids, Peter and Kimberly. Petes's a jerk like his mom, but Kimberly was nice. Anyways, they were unpacking and all, making plans to sell their Victorian, settling in. But the following morning, Kimberly's room was completely destroyed, and she'd gone _crazy_."

Coraline interrupted for a second. "What do you mean, crazy?"

Lucas drew a deep breath and blew it all out again. "She destroyed all of her toys, for one. Burned them. Then she took a knife to their old cat who'd recently given birth to kittens. They were all adopted in the end, though. I remember them taking her to the hospital. She was screaming at the top of her lungs about 'button spiders.' Completely wacko, ya know?"

Coraline was completely rigid, but tried to stay focused on not making Lucas feel weird.

"Yeah… wacko."

"She still lives with them," he concluded. "I'm surprised they didn't put her in a mental hospital.

"Yeah… wacko."

Lucas gave her an odd look. "Riight. Um, it's nearly ten, ya know. Maybe you should go home. I'll introduce you to Lenards later, if you want."

"Um… yeah. Yeah sure!" Coraline exclaimed, snapping out her daze. "I'll, uh, see you later then."


	3. Toria

Hey, guys. I know some people really liked this story, and it hasn't been updated in months. Basically, I've been working hard on another story that I've filled with all my imagination, and it's taken time. I actually wrote this earlier, and forgot to upload it, so here you go. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

**Maybe… Eleven o'clock that day?**

Coraline took one last look at the Victorian across the water, its roof sagging miserably underneath the brown pines.

_Someone's in there who knows,_ she thought.

Not wanting to dwell on it much more, she jogged back up the hill to the Pink Palace, which was waiting cheerfully for her to return home. Smoke rose from the metal chimney up top, signaling that her mother was on another fruitless breakfast-making escapade. Maybe Coraline will have cereal – the Pop Tart really didn't do much to tide her hunger.

Opening the door to the kitchen, her mother whirled around and shouted, looking surprised.

"Oh," she gasped, rather embarrassed by her display. "It's just you, Coraline. Sorry."

She laughed nervously before getting back to the already burnt sausages, which her daughter would most certainly not eat. Coraline just hung up her coat and made her way to the cereal cabinet, picking out some Cocoa Krispies, and filling a bowl with them. She was pulling the milk out of the refrigerator when her mother noticed.

"You don't want sausages? They're kosher."

The twelve year-old girl took one look at the remains of what was once meat, and shook her head.

"I'm not really hungry for… whatever sausages are made of."

Mel just shrugged and piled the dogs onto a large plate, covered it with a paper towel, and set it on the kitchen table. Only one sausage would be eaten that morning, and Charlie Jones would have to call in sick today.

Coraline sat with him _before_ that happened, the bowl between her crossed legs on the couch. He was watching the morning news – stocks, politics, weather – but neither father nor daughter really cared what was going on today. If you'd seen one newscaster, you've seen them all. When it broke to commercial, Charlie got up to get some sausages.

Finishing her cereal, Coraline picked up the remote and flipped through the channels, not finding anything worth even looking at. On weekdays, all the good cartoon channels had baby shows like Dora the Explorer on, for some despicable reason. She had outgrown those when she was four, and really just wanted to watch 24 or something.

When her interest in the Discovery Channel was gone, and her dad was stuck in the bathroom, she headed up to her room, where no one could bother her without knocking on the door.

**Almost the end of the school day…**

Once in her fortress of solitude, she lay on the unmade bed for a couple hours, staring at the ceiling, just thinking.

_Could someone else have gotten in there? And why did they go completely crazy?_

Abruptly, a big black face with huge green eyes appeared over her, causing Coraline to jump for a moment. When she realized it was just Cheshire, she relaxed and stroked his back, listening to his purr. He stared at her and almost seemed to talk to her.

_Be careful_, the eyes seemed to tell her. But she just kept petting the cat. Staring off into space, she silently counted how many times her mom dropped something, and how many times dad flushed the toilet (which was surprisingly a lot). Then, breaking her absent-minded daydream after a while, Coraline heard a sound.

_Plink. _It was a weird noise, like a small rock hitting the ground.

_Plink plink. _There it was again! Only this time, it happened twice. Coraline was slightly intrigued by this disturbance, especially when she heard it a third time.

_Plink plink plink WHAM!_ Something was hitting the roof, and it wasn't being stealthy in the least.

_Plink WHAM! Plink plink WHAM!_ What could it be? Corlaline thought hard of the possible source, staring out the window to the first story roof below when yet another figure appeared out of the blue.

"Wybie?" Coraline exclaimed when a dirt-crusted face stared back at her from the other side of the glass.

"Damn," he said to himself. "I was supposed to surprise you."

"You're lucky my parents didn't call the cops, you were so noisy!"

She got off her bed and opened the window all the way so that he could climb in. Then she continued to scold him for being so weird and stalker-ish.

"What the hell are you doing here anyways? Don't you have school?"

After dusting himself off and removing his gloves, Wybie sat down on a chair and replied.

"I have last period free on Mondays. So I got on my bike and came on home."

"Why don't you go back to _your_ house instead of creeping around mine?"

Wybourne Lovat, the creepy boy up the street, just sighed and admitted his reasoning.

"My gram doesn't know," he said. "I don't want her to think I'm skipping on the first day or anything. She'll have a heart attack!"

It _did_ make sense. Grandma Lovat didn't exactly have the greatest cardiovascular system. _Still_ Coraline whispered to herself, _it doesn't justify the stalking. _Though the look on his face _was_ kinda funny when he realized that he failed.

"So," Coraline mumbled. "Whaddya wanna do?"

**Later that day but not quite suppertime…**

Wybie had gone home about an hour ago, but not until they had talked about Lucas. The conversation was strange, but they were all strange kids, Coraline self-included.

Wybie had laughed at her mention of the camper kid.

"You met him?" he asked astonished. "I didn't think you would, actually.

Coraline gave him a sour look. _How could you not think that I'd explore something you'd told me about?_

She said to him, "I did, and I found him fishing. Kinda depressed at his luck, so he ate his only catch."

A wave of hysterics burst from the brown-haired boy, and he couldn't stop.

"Lemme guess," he tried to say once he'd calmed down. "All he had was a tiny little goldfish, right?"

"Yeah. He did. Then he ate it whole," Coraline answered, curious that Wybie knew. He kept on giggling.

"He doesn't know it yet, but those are the **only** fish in that pond!" He had a laughter attack. Rolling around on the floor, he found what Coraline didn't understand, to be extremely funny. If Coraline had known Lucas long enough, she'd have been giggling too.

Once his stomach stopped hurting from his outburst, Wybie sat up and tried to stifle some last few chuckles.

"Heh heh… have you met Toria?"

"Who?" Coraline had no idea who Toria was. Neither Wybie nor Lucas had mentioned her before.

"Toria Lenard," he told her. "She lives next door to the Gaimans, and is a **huge** musician."

"No, I haven't met her."

"You should. She's the friendliest person you could meet. It actually gets annoying sometimes."

"I can imagine."

**When the shadows start to cast…**

So now, Coraline Jones stood with Lucas outside the Lenard's log home, awaiting an answer to the doorbell. The family appeared nice enough from the outside. A big beautiful garden separated the house from the road, and it was overflowing with decorations. As Lucas and her approached the house, a little Jack Russell Terrier ran up to them and practically jumped on Coraline, though reaching only her knees.

After not even half of a minute of waiting, a tall, kindly-looking woman answered the door, smiling when she saw the two children standing on her doorstep. Her name was Margaret Lenard, and was the bubbliest lady Coraline had ever met.

"Well hello!" she greeted them. "It's good to see you Lucas – and who might this be? A friend?"

Lucas looked a bit uncomfortable talking to someone who never seemed to frown, but he managed to muster out a small, "Yes."

"Well isn't that wonderful! I knew I should have cleaned the house today. But come in!" Mrs. Lenard invited them. Both children were a bit unnerved, but headed in anyways, for fear of being rude.

The Lenard's house was much like the Gaimans, though not as elaborately decorated. Flute music could be heard throughout the house, coming from some unknown source. As Mrs. Lenard disappeared into the kitchen, Lucas and Coraline sat down on the couch. In no time, a small bowl of potato chips sat in front of them, and the woman sat in the armchair facing them.

"So, what's your name, dear?" she asked her new guest politely.

"Coraline," the twelve year-old answered. Mrs. Lenard was nice, but for some reason neither kids wanted to say that much.

"That's a beautiful name, Caroline," she complimented. The girl groaned, but not out loud. She still didn't want to be rude. Thus, she continued not to talk.

"I take it your family moved into the Pink Palace?"

"Yeah."

"Such a lovely building." After that, no one said anything else. The awkward silence was only intensified by Mrs. Lenard's never-ending smile. Then she got up, walked to the stairs, and called up to someone on the second floor.

"Victoria! We have guests! Why don't you come on down here and meet them?"

For a few seconds, there was nothing, then a loud "Okay mom!"

As fast as she could, Toria Lenard bounded down the stairs and into the living room, a fife still in her hand. When she saw Lucas and Coraline, she smiled and sat between them.

"Hey!" she greeted Lucas. Then she turned to the strange blue-haired girl. "And hi! My name's Toria! I haven't seen you around here before."

Before Coraline could shed some light on her being there, Mrs. Lenard spoke for her.

"Coraline's family just moved into the Pink Palace, dear. She came to introduce herself."

For a moment, Toria's eyes widened, but her smile came back as fast as it had gone. "Oh… that's great! I bet you're liking it there– which apartment did you get?"

"Um, the one on the right," Coraline answered, unsure of the girl's reaction.

Toria just kept smiling. "Oh! Cool! I remember going in there once. The other apartment had a very nice piano, but it was really out of tune."

"No kidding?" Coraline played along. "I'll have to visit it sometime." There was something strange about Toria. She didn't look that comfortable underneath the smile.

"Toria, why don't you bring these two up to your room?" Mrs. Lenard offered. "I have to go on a little errand anyways."

Her daughter asked, "When will you be back?"

"Oh, maybe a half an hour."

With that, the woman stood up, pulled her summer coat from the closet and around her shoulder, then opened the door, turning back and waving before closing it behind her.

Toria sighed a breath of relief. "Okay. Now we can do whatever."

"Good," Lucas commented after a long while of silence.

The new neighbor turned to Coraline smiling. "Come on up to my room, I have to put my fife away anyways."

And they traveled up the steps to the second floor.

**Almost suppertime…**

They all sat in a circle on the floor of Toria's unusually clean room, Lucas resting his back on her desk, and Coraline cross-legged by an electric piano. Miss Lenard herself lounged in a beanbag chair, which deflated as she relaxed.

"So," she began. "Tell me what my mom didn't tell me for you."

Coraline didn't know what to say or how to say it. "Um… I'm Coraline Jones. I'm from Michigan, I moved her maybe three weeks ago, and – "

"Not that stuff," Lucas interrupted. "Sorry. Um… how's the apartment?"

_What's that supposed to mean?_ she thought. It seemed a rather trivial question. Why would they wanna know about the apartment? But Lucas and Toria just stared at her, waiting for some answer.

She started, "Uh, it's okay, I guess. The floor creaks, the roof leaks, and there's a small mouse problem."

Toria nodded. "It's a pretty old house. Lots of history, good and bad." She looked to Lucas, who raised his eyebrows. "And the heating is ancient too."

The conversation was getting boring, and they all knew it. But after some awkward silence, Lucas spoke up again.

"You explore the house a lot?" he asked.

Coraline nodded happily, for exploring was her expertise. "Oh yeah, all of it. I even counted every window and door, which was exciting."

Toria giggled. Lucas asked another question. "Did you meet anyone?"

"Well, there's Miss Spink and Miss Forcible in the basement."

"Ah, the old actresses."

"Yeah. And then there's Mr. B upstairs, who wants to make a mouse circus. And the Lovats up the hill."

"That it?"

"Well, there's you guys."

"And no one else?"

Coraline hesitated for a moment. Lucas had a serious look on his face, and Toria appeared nervous. _What could they possibly be going on about?_

"No…" she replied. "No one else."

Both older kids sighed and gave little smiles. "That's good."


End file.
